Behind the Scenes Shake-Up?- Shockwaves at The Den- Will Still and Alex Neil on Edge as Bold Southampton & Millwall Takeover Rumors Gain Steam!”
The Saudi billionaire Turki Alalshikh has started to get heads turning with rumours of him wanting to get involved with an English club, but this may mean an uncomfortable time for the managers of Millwall and Southampton, the two clubs that he’s identified as possibilities.
Alalshikh was the owner of the Spanish club Almeria from August 2019 until earlier this month, when he sold it on to another Saudi-fronted group. This has fuelled speculation that he would like to buy into football in England.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Simon Jordan said that he had spoken to the billionaire about the possibility of dipping his toe into English football: “I suggested Sheffield Wednesday to him, but he doesn’t want Sheffield Wednesday, he doesn’t want a club in the north. He wants a club in the south, and Millwall and Southampton are the two that he thinks are interesting to him.”
Alalshikh’s Almeria had mixed fortunes under his ownership
Turki Alalshikh bought UD Almeria in August 2019, but the club had mixed fortunes under his ownership. They secured promotion back to La Liga at the end of the 2021/22 season, snatching the League title from Real Valladolid and Eibar on the last day of the season.
However, they were relegated back in 2024 in second from bottom place, with just three wins from their 38 league games, having failed to win any of their first 28 league matches of the season. With a game to play in the 2024/25 season, Almeria are sixth in La Liga 2.
Alex Neil and Will Still have cause for concern about Alashikh’s potential interest in their clubs
For many, the idea of a Saudi billionaire buying into their club would be manna from heaven, but there are two people who may not be so sanguine about it all.
This is because Alalshikh hasn’t always been the most patient club owner when it came to managers, and this should give the managers of the two clubs mentioned, Alex Neil and Will Still, pause for thought.
Almeria had five managers in their first two seasons under Alalshikh’s ownership, including former Reading boss Gomes and Real Madrid legend Guti, and in total they had nine – including one caretaker – in the six years during which he was involved with them, one of whom had two bites at the cherry.
UD Almeria managers under Alalshikh (Figures from Transfermarkt)
Manager
Appointed
Left
Days
Pedro Emmanuel
04/08/2019
04/11/2019
92
Guti
05/11/2019
27/06/2020
235
Mario Silva
29/06/2020
27/07/2020
29
Jose Gomes
27/07/2020
27/04/2021
274
Rubi
28/04/2021
30/06/2023
793
Vicente Moreno
01/07/2023
29/09/2023
90
Alberto Lasarte*
29/09/2023
08/10/2023
9
Gaizka Garitano
08/10/2023
13/03/2024
157
Pepe Mel
13/03/2024
30/06/2024
109
Rubi
01/07/2024
–
330
*Caretaker manager
Rubi was the only manager who managed to stay there for longer than a year, and he was the manager who took them to the La Liga 2 title in 2022. He returned for this season and remains there, for now.
Neil’s position at Millwall and Still’s position at Southampton are quite different roles to each other. Millwall are not expected to get into the Premier League. They have spent the last 35 years bouncing between the second and third tiers of the English game.
Expectation levels for Still at Southampton, however, are different. Southampton fell out of the Premier League at the end of the 2024/25 season, but parachute payments mean that they will be expected to challenge for promotion straight back.
On top of this, when a new owner gets involved with a club, they will often look to bring in their own people, and this is exactly what happened at Almeria. When Alalshikh took control of the club, one of the first things he did was get rid of the incumbent manager Oscar Fernandez, who’d only been appointed himself a few weeks earlier, and who left without managing them for a single match.
Despite the differences between their positions, both Neil and Still may find that they have cause to be concerned at someone with his record taking over their club.
